Alphabetical Movie – Howl’s Moving Castle
Think about this for a minute: Studio Ghibli is one of the few studios regularly producing films with female protagonists. Howl’s Moving Castle is one example but thinking through most of Ghibli films with which Americans would be familiar – Kiki’s Delivery Service, Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky – their stories are all centered on young women.
I’m not a huge devourer of Anime so I admit that this trend may be indicative of where the films are produced (Japan) more than it is of a particular filmmaker (Miyazaki). Keep in mind, the majority of Americans have only one window into Anime and that window is the imagination of Hiyao Miyazaki. His worlds are frequently focused on young women.
Shit that Pissed me off This Week – 4/13
The Leader of the Russian Orthodox Church Lies to the Press about a Watch
Patriarch Krill I, the religious leader of millions of people, was photographed wearing a watch reputed to be worth over $30,000. In a country where that exceeds the annual income of most households, that’s a pretty big deal.
So then, the picture is photoshopped to make the watch go away. That doesn’t work because they forget to get rid of the watch’s reflection. How do you say “d’oh” in Russian?
D'ohsvidonia!
The church apologizes for the incident and calls it a “technical mistake.” With me so far?
So the Patriarch decides to take his asshattery just one step too far and he denies that he’s ever worn the watch, going so far as to claim that any picture showing him wearing the watch has been photoshopped.
He doesn’t say something like “yes, the watch was a gift and I liked it so much, I kept it rather than selling it” or “holy shit! It’s worth how much?? I had not idea!”
No, he says he’s never worn the damn thing and that there are a bunch of conspiracy theorists running around the internet gleefully cackling as they maliciously put watches on every picture they find. “That’ll show ‘im,” they laugh, “now the world will think he’s a materialistic scuzzbag when he’s actually not!”
The reality is the dude has been wearing the watch and rather than fess up, he lied about it. The leader of one of the most powerful churches in Russia lied.
About a fucking watch.
Side note: The dudes name is really “Krill?” I’ll bet whales scare the shit out of him.
What’s in a last name?
Last week, I wrote about how the ending of Hot Tub Time Machine creeped me out. This week, I’ll write about why the ending pisses me off – and it has nothing with time travel paradoxes. Rather, it has everything to do with the misogynistic notion that everything is better because of how one guy’s last name changed.
A trend in movies lately is to explore the emasculation of men in modern society. In Hot Tub Time Machine, this emasculation is shown in several ways but none more heinous than the fact that Craig Robinson’s character (Nick) has a hyphenated last name!!
Shit that pissed me off this week – 3/30
Anti-Gay group starts Dump Starbucks Campaign
You know, the whole “we don’t hate gay people” drumbeat gets pretty old when you keep doing hateful bullshit like this. The campiagn is in response to the following:
On January 12th, 2012, Starbucks issued a memorandum declaring that same-sex marriage ‘is core to who we are and what we value as a company.’
As annoyed as I am at this petition, I note that some other folks have started a “send a thank you card to Starbucks” campaign, which, as of this morning, had almost twenty times as many supporters. Their initial goal was 40,000. They are almost at 500,000, which doesn’t piss me off – it’s fantastic.
If you haven’t followed the link and thanked Starbucks yet, make sure you do. They earned it.
Shit that pissed me off this week – 3/23
Pro-Life Advocates are Now Pushing a ban on Abortions if you can hear a Heartbeat
Are you fucking kidding me?
I am unapologetically Pro-choice. I don’t write about it much because it is such a useless debate. Both sides are so entrenched (myself included) that there is nothing to discuss.
But look – abortion is legal. Just barely.
Passing a law that says, in effect, “yeah, you can get an abortion right up to the point you actually know you are pregnant” is pretty shitty, isn’t it? It’s like saying “yes, you can have this ice cream cone unless you actually want the ice cream cone.”
I’ve got an idea for pro-life folks. How about a companion bill that says you can’t execute someone so long as they still have a heartbeat?
Shit that Pissed me off this week – 3/16
The Pope Once Again Proves that the Problems with the Catholic Church Start at the top
The Pope could be an amazing force for good in the world. He could point out that Jesus said those without sin should cast the first stone. He could point out that when it comes to issues of marriage, the bible is a little bit wishy-washy as to what is “traditional.”
He doesn’t, of course, because he is an old man more concerned with antiquated dogma than he is with what is truly right or in the best interests of his church and it’s members. Thing is, whoever replaces him will be another old man more concerned with antiquated dogma than with what is truly right or in the best interests of his church and it’s members.
Shit That Pissed me off This Week – 3/9
Brittany Spears’ Criminal
Three times in a row my weekly tirade has started with a song that made me angry. I’m sorry about that. They keep playing this crap at work and I can’t escape.
The thing that annoys me about this song is the musical hook. It is horrible and they won’t stop playing it. It feels like the entire song is that one banal progression of notes.
Those notes are, oddly, the exact opposite of an earworm to me. Instead of being a tune I can’t get out of my head, it is a tune I instantly forget until it gets played again and I remember how much I hate it.
It’s like having short term memory loss. I forget about the song until it gets played again so every time I heard it, I get to say “what the hell is this horrible song? Oh, it’s that one.” That might not be so bad except for the fact the annoyance doesn’t subside with repeated exposure to the song. Completely unfair.
Dating Advice for Geeks
I was already writing the following post when I read this (which is from March 2011). In the wake of such a well written treatise, what I was writing almost seemed redundant.
Almost.
Given the article above, it seems to be the perfect time to give some advice to you geek boys out there who are interested in dating geek girls and haven’t quite figured out how to do it.
Look, I know that I’m not the best guy in the world to give this advice. I’ve been married for 21 years now and when I was dating, I wasn’t very good at it.
Take my word for it, though, after reading many of the male responses to elevatorgate in which they asked “Hey, if propositioning a woman I hardly know in an elevator makes them uncomfortable, what do you propose I do if I’d like to get laid” I feel that I am at least as qualified as any other guy who was smart enough to know the answer to that question without asking his wife/girlfriend.
A lot of very smart women have answered the question but I know how guys are. I know you guys out there really need the advice of another guy who understands what women want because, apparently, you don’t trust women to know the answer. So here goes, guys. Get ready for some super insightful stuff!
Boys will be Boys – Even when they Shouldn’t
In my traditional act of commenting on something on the internet long after everyone is done talking about it, I have finally started to collect my thoughts about a recent post on Skepchick.org about guys being idiots on Reddit.
The initial post by Rebecca Watson was in response to a Reddit thread in which a 15-year-old girl posted that her super religious mom gave her a Carl Sagan book for Christmas. I personally think it is fantastic that a very religious mother gave her atheist daughter a book that was all about her daughter’s interests rather than her own.
Glee doesn’t always make me happy
Yes, I confess that I watch “Glee.” Every week I punch that show up on Hulu because I like musicals and I love the idea that there is a weekly TV show that is a musical.
Yeah, they mercilessly edit the songs and use autotune way too much.
Yeah, they have great broadway singers like Idina Menzel and then give her one solo in a half season.
But it is a musical! On TV! Come on! How is that not awesome???? Read More…
Grail Diary 